Shame, shame

I have recieved several political fliers from candidates, Karl Ward among them, that contain no information as to what party they represent. Could it be that they are ashamed of their party?

Arnold Hooper

Penobscot

Cutler for governor

Wake up, fellow citizens. Before us is the real deal: Eliot Cutler for governor. Cutler, an independent, is a statesman with common sense, wit and intelligence.

Let’s get behind this candidate. Register, and vote Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Linda Best

Belfast

Again, LePage

I was not going to vote for Gov. Paul LePage, but as the BDN keeps railing against him I will vote for him again. Has the BDN ever said anything positive about him?

Weston Mayhew

Cambridge

Guide thanks

Having been an Aroostook County native for all my 51 years, I appreciate the outdoors. Two weeks ago, my co-worker and I thought we’d meet the challenge of kayaking parts of the Penobscot below Ripogenus Dam.

Although I have kayaked many times before, I was vastly unprepared for the 2,800-plus cubic feet per second water and the class III and IV rapids.

I soon capsized and traveled a seemingly endless 10 minutes through three sets of rapids before being rescued by the world’s greatest whitewater guides. I did not get their names, but I need to say, “Thank you very, very much.” My kayak may still be underwater somewhere, but I am glad I lived to tell the tale.

Craig Sjoberg

Caribou

Moderate face

Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle tries to explain away his past statement in favor of banning hunting, but Mainers should understand that he is just engaging in election-year politics in hopes that he will get their vote in an upcoming ballot measure to restrict bear hunting.

Not only has Pacelle advocated for a hunting ban, Pacelle has also stated that “I don’t want to see another cat or dog born,” and “I don’t have a hands-on fondness for animals.” He even wrote in an essay that “I don’t love animals or think they are cute.” These are not “fabricated” quotes, as he implies to the BDN but things he stated on the record.

Many have seen the HSUS TV ads with sad music and sadder pictures of dogs and cats, but only 1 percent of the money raised goes to local pet shelters. Instead, the money is funneled to PETA-like campaigns to shut down livestock farming, hunting and other uses of animals.

Like his employer, Pacelle tries to put on a moderate face to seem mainstream to Americans. Mainers should know there’s a lot Pacelle and HSUS aren’t telling them.

Richard Berman

Center for Consumer Freedom

Washington, D.C.

The Muddle East

The music teacher’s Aug. 9 OpEd about the people of Gaza not deserving to be targets of an Israeli counter-offensive is pretty interesting, coming from a man who lived part of this summer on the West Bank.

We have several Christian and Jewish friends who live in various parts of Israel — from Be’er Sheva, where the Israelis are running to their bomb shelters sometimes two or three times an hour, to just north of Tel Aviv, where they are doing the same, to Jerusalem itself.

Yes, Palestinian-ruling factions have fired more than 2,500 rockets at Israel’s innocent civilians this year alone. And where are their rocket launchers? In hospitals, schoolyards, tenement buildings — places where their citizens should live; indeed, using their people as human shields.

What are Israelis to do? What would you do if someone has sworn to kill you, your children, indeed every last one of your race; has broken ceasefire after ceasefire; and continually bombs your country, day after day, month after month, year after year?

Not only that, but Hamas has used cement — given to it by Israel to construct schools and hospitals — to instead build dozens of tunnels underneath and into the midst of Jewish settlements. Their purpose? Armed with tranquilizers and weapons, they planned a surprise attack in which they would kill and kidnap scores of Jews.

Even so, whenever the Israeli Defense Forces prepare to bomb a rocket-launching site, they airdrop leaflets and make phone calls, warning Palestinians of the imminent attacks.

Mark Leslie

Monmouth

Climate action

The country’s large greenhouse gas emitters do not represent the American public and actively lobby against the people’s best interests. Indeed Murray Energy’s efforts to sue and obstruct the Obama administration from protecting public health by limiting carbon pollution from power plants has wrangled 12 states to its dirty cause. Americans made it clear recently that they stand behind climate action, outnumbering the opposition’s testimony at the Environmental Protection Agency’s public hearings on the Clean Power Plan almost nine to one. Throughout four days of hearings in four cities, 79 percent testified in favor of the plan.

Big polluters continue to prefer obstruction over America’s ability to innovate and lead the world toward a clean energy future. Big polluters have tried to maintain the status quo and protect their profits above our health in the past, but, as Americans have shown, they aren’t going to stand for that any longer.

A healthy country is a wealthy country, and it is time for us to stand with the administration’s plan and take action on climate change.

Would receivership make anything better? Who knows? I think it is fair to say more of the same reports, bureaucratic shuffle and excuses will not. Maine residents with mental illness deserve better — much, much better. It’s time for the state, and courts, to find some way, and someone, to lead us out of this disaster.